Your Country Your Call

Today sees the launch of Your Country Your Call – a global initiative that seeks to make a tangible impact on Ireland’s economic future.

Martin McAleese and me at the launch of Your Country Your Call

Your Country Your Call, the brainchild of Martin McAleese the president’s husband, is essentially a competition to come up with the next big thing that will positively impact on our country’s future. A website has been established to allow people from anywhere in the world to submit short proposals for things they believe could “game changing” for Ireland.

The proposals are not for new business initiatives, but for new country initiatives. When I think about the kinds of things that we could compare this with I’m thinking of the IFSC in Dublin, Airport Duty Free first implemented in Shannon, or indeed the proposed Global Cultural University which Dermot Desmond is currently exploring.

The carrot here for people to submit proposals is to be part of the story of Ireland – to be able to tell your grandchildren that you were a major part of what Ireland became in the early part of the new millenium. There is also a prize of €100,000 – no strings attached.

The two winning proposals will each receive funding of €500,000 and be supported by a range of experts from across relevant industries, coupled with assured legislative changes as required. The proposal winners are welcome to participate in the implementation of the proposal but they will not receive any other remuneration other than the first €100,000.

So that’s €100,000 to write a few words down on a piece of paper with some great ideas for Ireland. Not bad.

An exciting potential of this initiative is the possibilities of creating new synergies of innovative and thoughtful people collaborating to achieve something truly worthwhile for Ireland. We had talked here on this blog about the need for an innovation network in Ireland. This is what you were looking for. Sure there is a defined time-limit on this, but I am hopeful that something more permanent may emerge.

President Mary McAleese is the patron of this iniative:

This is going to be big so do join in to be part of something historic. Visit the Your Country Your Call website to find out more.

re your country your call,
yes nice idea,
but they don’t allow you to keep your idea or to develop it yourself see terms and conditions…http://www.yourcountryyourcall.com/tc.html
completely opposite to what they say upfront

Joe, my understanding of this is that it is a necessary part of the competition structure. They are not looking for a business idea, but an idea that is so big that no one person could implement on their own.

It will be a” not for individual profit” idea – so the question stands as to why you would want to hold on to the idea? You will walk away with €100,000 and your name will be remembered as someone who did something good for Ireland. I understand that you can stay involved to see through the implementation of the idea, but you won’t get any further remuneration.